Loston visits A&M

David Sandhop

01/31/2008

After decommitting from Texas A&M last year, are the Aggies back on the map with defensive back Craig Loston? Aggie Websider visits with Loston about his recent trip to College Station and what he thought of the new coaching staff.

Aldine Eisenhower (TX) safety Craig Loston is considered the most coveted defensive back in Texas, and for good reason. Aggie Websider's No. 3 overall prospect is a hard-hitting headhunter who has the quickness and athletic ability to effectively work in man-to-man coverage. That's one reason why the 6-foot-1, 185-pound junior is being courted by virtually every college program in the country.

Last February as a sophomore, Loston surprisingly committed to Texas A&M along with junior defensive tackle teammate Rod Davis after a junior day visit. However, the issues surrounding the previous staff and the coaching transition, Loston decommitted from the Aggies and decided to open up the recruiting process. Now as a junior, Loston is starting over and the new Texas A&M staff had a chance last weekend to put its best foot forward when the coveted prospect showed up in College Station for junior day.

"I went up after I took the SAT," Loston said. "I wanted to give A&M another look and meet the new coaching staff. It's not that I eliminated A&M when I decommitted. I just needed to open it up. A&M will always be one of my top schools."

While Loston showed up late due to his test, he still had a chance to meet head coach Mike Sherman and the rest of the new staff at Texas A&M. In fact, Loston said the highlight of the day was sitting down to meet with the coaches and hearing about where the program is going.

"I like this new staff. I've known Van Malone and it was good to see him again," Loston said. "Coach Sherman is a good coach with a lot of NFL experience. He knows a lot of people in the NFL, and that can benefit his players down the road. I like that."

While Loston was impressed with the new Aggie coaching staff, this was just the first of several junior days the impressive safety prospect will attend. He is scheduled to be at OU next weekend for their junior day, and he'll turn around and head to Austin for the Texas junior day event on February 10. He also hopes to visit Georgia in the near future. In fact, the Bulldogs are at the top of Loston's list at this time.

"My top five in order are Georgia, Clemson, OU, A&M, and Florida," Loston said. "But I want to take my time and do my research before picking a school so I don't expect to make a commitment anytime soon."